Orchestra adds maestro Hans Graf to its Walk of Fame

The Houston Symphony’s Walk of Fame gained its second star Tuesday when the orchestra unveiled a gold plaque honoring Hans Graf, who ends his 12 years as music director in May.

Chairman emeritus Mike Stude looked back across the successes of the orchestra’s Graf years, from trips to the United Kingdom and Russia to recent performances of the opera “Wozzeck.” Graf thanked the orchestra for commemorating him, adding that he won’t need a gold star back home in Austria to help him remember the orchestra: “It will always be there” in his thoughts, he said

Before pulling the cover off the gold plaque embedded in the Jones Hall plaza – next to one for predecessor Christoph Eschenbach – Graf looked at the spot on the pavement and quipped: “I’ll be happy to smile at the shoes of the people who come to hear concerts.”